Monday's Personal Finance stories

When hybrid automobiles debuted, the buyers flocked to the new vehicles as a way to make a statement about their environmental sensitivity. It didn't hurt that the cars came with a nice tax credit and the promise of reduced gasoline consumption, both of which helped justify the above-list prices that several hot models commanded.

But while the early adopters were able to flaunt their earth-friendly credentials after their purchase, their economic prowess wasn't necessarily something they could crow about. That's because all too often the payback time on the hybrid investment was much longer than you would have thought, even with gasoline at $3 per gallon.

But now that the initial euphoria has subsided, car buyers can drive a harder bargain on the purchase of a hybrid and automakers are chipping in with incentives in some cases, just like they do on politically incorrect gas guzzlers. The result is that putting your money into a hybrid today is making almost as much financial sense as environmental sense.

In our lead story, assistant Personal Finance editor Andrea Coombes looks at the revised equations on hybrid cars and provides tips for you to negotiate your own good deal if you are in the market. Read her coverage, plus see how baby boomers continue to fuel the vacation-home market even as real estate overall slumps and learn from Marshall Loeb why changing your name is mostly a question of legal paperwork, on Monday's Personal Finance pages.

Of course those who really want to help the environment could just give up their cars completely. But, in America, it's going to take a lot more than even $4 gas to get that movement rolling.

Steve Kerch, assistant managing editor/personal finance

AUTOMOBILES

Buying a hybrid car makes more economic sense today

If you've been toying with the idea of buying a hybrid car, the cost equation is tilting in your favor. See full story.

2007 Acura MDX

It must have looked a little silly to a casual observer -- testing what might be called a sport utility around the famed Nurburgring racetrack in Germany. But that is what Acura did to tune the suspension in the new MDX and all that work produced one of the better handling vehicles in its class. See Auto Review.

REAL ESTATE

Vacation-home sales are up, while fewer are buying purely for investment

A sharp drop in investment-home sales offset a record number of vacation-home purchases to bring down the overall share of second-home purchases in 2006, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. See full story.

Home appliances get practical

More than two decades after the housing industry started pushing "smart" houses, manufacturers are starting to dumb them down a little. See House Talk.

CONSUMER

What's in a name change? Mostly paperwork

Maybe you're a newly married woman who wants to share a surname with your husband or perhaps you just want to pull a Muhammad Ali (formerly Cassius Clay). Either way, changing your name legally isn't really all that difficult -- but it does require a lot of paperwork to establish that new identity. One misstep and you could be putting your finances in danger. See Marshall Loeb's Daily Money Tip.

Virtual worlds cater to kids, but are they safe?

Part socializing and part game playing, online virtual worlds targeted at kids and teens are sprouting on the Web. Their strategy is to offer social-networking with training wheels. The sites aim to give kids the interaction of a site like MySpace or a virtual world like Second Life without the potential exposure to inappropriate content or inappropriate people. But the sites are still struggling to earn the trust of parents, who wonder if their kids really know who is on the other side of the virtual park or pizza parlor. See full story.

U.S. consumer spending sluggish in March

Consumers may have come into March roaring like lions but they certainly left the month like lambs. Nominal spending rose 0.3% in March, marking the slowest pace since October, the Commerce Department estimated Monday. Real, adjusted for inflation, spending fell 0.2%, the weakest reading since September 2005. Personal incomes increased 0.7% in March for the second straight month. See Economic Report.

Higher profits at steel companies and expected merger and acquisition activity has helped a small and little-known exchange-traded fund deliver some of the best returns for the group so far this year. See ETF Investing.

Want some freebies from your funds? Just ask

A friend stopped by the house recently and saw an enormous pile of mail on the dining table. Picking up pieces that had fallen to the floor when he brushed them, he instantly was drawn to a cardboard calculator from a mutual fund company, then spotted an informational brochure that his mother could use and something that his teenage daughter should read. "You got this from a mutual fund?" he asked. "Wow, my funds never send me anything like this." Maybe that's because you don't ask them to. But I asked, and some 30 firms sent me roughly 320 educational items for review. See Chuck Jaffe.

Midcap stocks may be just the right size

Debating the virtues of small versus large stocks? Don't forget those in between. With economic growth slowing and inflation still running high, finding the best spots in the equity market can be tough. Small stocks can be volatile and more vulnerable to sharp declines if the economy slows too much. Although the shares of the largest companies can be safe havens in a nervous market, they have recently offered lower returns than smaller fare. See full story.

Focus on the fundamentals to stay on course, manager says

Don Hodges, manager of the Hodges Fund, says that focusing on fundamentals never leads investors astray, allowing them to avoid the headlines and the noise and focus on the business and the value in the current stock price. See Audio Report.

TAXES

Homeowners stage a tax rebellion

Falling home prices and rising property-tax assessments are fueling a grass-roots tax rebellion. From coastal Florida to the shores of Hawaii, homeowners are lodging record numbers of appeals, fighting against rising assessments that are, in many cases, pushing up annual tax payments significantly. See story from WSJ.com.

A stock gift? The tax is in the size of the giving

If I give an appreciated stock to my sister, age 66, which I purchased at $1,000 a few years ago, and it is currently worth $5,000, is there any capital-gains tax involved? Do I have to pay the tax, even though I haven't sold the stock? If not, does my sister have to pay tax? Or does the stock simply pass to her without tax with her basis being the market value the day of the transfer? If she has to pay the tax, is her basis and date of purchase my original date and cost? See full story.

FAMILY FINANCE

How graduates can maximize their finances

Graduation season is almost here, and with it a flood of soon-to-be-former students are facing financial decisions that can affect a lifetime. From managing student loans to dealing with a mailbox crammed with credit-card applications, there are pitfalls at every turn. Yet there are a few things new grads should focus on to avoid those traps. Some tricks can even help make a too-small paycheck feel a bit bigger. See Green Thumb.

TECHNOLOGY

The future of wireless

Not so long ago, Wi-Fi was a home project for tech geeks with a high tolerance for fiddling with router settings and WEP encryption. Today, wireless Internet access is regarded as practically a digerati birthright. Finding yourself in an airport or hotel without free wireless access is as odd and unwelcome as finding out your rental car doesn't have a CD player. See Real Time.

CAREERS

Freelancing's office side

Sure, working as a free-lancer rather than at a steady job has its advantages: You can usually keep flexible hours, choose projects and companies that interest you and even work in your PJs. But what Emily Koteff, a 24-year-old graphic designer in New York, didn't realize when she quit her job in September was that free-lancing essentially involves running one's own small business. "Rather than just design work, all of the sudden I have to do my own accounting and marketing," she says. See full story.

Want to work on a commission? Make sure you have a nest egg

The possibility of an uncapped paycheck can entice people to commission-based jobs. Although the prospect of earning big money in one "good" month can be tempting, there are risks involved in making the switch, especially for folks accustomed to a steady paycheck. See story from CareerJournal.

Making retirement fit your personality

Many people spend years looking ahead to the day they retire; after decades of a 9-to-5 grind, they daydream about finally having the freedom to do what they want. And for some, that first day they don't have to show up at their old job is an exhilarating experience. But for others, leaving a career is an unsettling event. See full story.

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